The Night the Hex Fell
by Zephyrsword
Summary: As life finally returns to normal a month on, Shirou and Saber live through each day with harmony. However, one night, Shirou is attacked by a vile undead lupine but makes it out alive. Only saved by a mysterious cat, he realises that these creatures are highly contaminative and are spreading fast. Somehow, he is resistant to to them. Sequel to 'The Sin for Him', please R&R.
1. Before the Fell - The Night of Deja Vu

**The Night of Deja Vu**

* * *

Lights dimmed in the room as the young man sat alone amongst the dusk. To the left of his bright orange hair, a few rows down, he could make out two folks. One, judging by merely the lighting alone, seemed incredibly ecstatic. She held an arm in the air and screeched incomprehensible words of excitement while another arm covered in a tidy blue cuff was pulled out; presumably by the boy in an effort to calm her down. The young man envied this interaction, albeit a rather eccentric one. For he was alone as he waited. He turned his head toward the front of the room. A giant screen like a gaping void looked back towards him.

He relaxed one arm on the armrest and closed his eyes a moment, to focus. Before he could visualise an image in his mind, he was disrupted by a large booming sound of orchestrated music. Immediately opening his eyes, he saw the screen directly in front of him light up with all sorts of amazing colours. This forced him to get up. "Oh crap! She's going to miss the movie!"  
It was then a rather vile expulsion of voice erupted behind his ear. "Sit back down! I can't see a darned movie!" The old harpy continued to ramble on about how useless youths are and how impolite everyone in this world apparently are these days.

The boy decided to sit back down to avoid any more confrontation. Besides, if he had to step past that other romantic couple a few seats aside him, it looked like the ash-blonde girl there would do some pretty nasty things to him despite her happy-go-lucky face. Before long the rambling thankfully stopped and the boy watched on at the introduction of the movie. It was all musical so far, he presumed the film was simply 'setting the scene'. He could see a vast landscape of green being presented in the screen as well as a knight with brilliant silver armour and green clothing enter from the right of the screen, riding his steed. However, the boy was quickly interrupted as he was nudged by another arm besides him. As he looked to his right, his view was obscured by a _Jenga_ tower of popcorn boxes. "J-just what the hell Saber!?"  
Behind the blocked view he heard a voice whisper back. "I'm sorry I'm late Shirou. I got a little carried away at the lobby,"

Uh-oh. It was then that savage harpy in the background began to start up her ramblings again, completely blotching out the sounds of the film playing in front of them. It was only after a well deserved 'SHUT UP' from the left hand side of the room made the room completely fall silent. A little red-faced from embarrassment, Shirou picked up and placed each popcorn box from his side onto the floor to prevent them obscuring the view any longer. As he brought his eyes up to place down the last box, he saw the girl behind looking intently towards the screen like glue with glimmering green eyes. She wore a white shirt, and a mid-length blue dress.

"I and my soldiers shall go forth and purge the menace that plagues our homeland,"

The voice came from the screen. Shirou decided to settle down now and watch what was happening. _"This must remind her of home."_

_Of course. It would be lies at this point to say that a girl called 'Saber' was entirely normal at this point. His and her first meeting... was indeed a strange one. She had transcended through time from the past and became a heroic spirit in an event named the 'Holy Grail Wars'. Since all the summoned participants in the wars had to conceal their identities, she was simply known as 'Saber'._

As the film continued, the somewhat cliché affair of a knight slaying monsters was no longer apparent to Shirou's surprise. Many of the protagonists soldiers were slain by someone within his party. Eventually the entire movie turned pretty bloody. The knight protagonist eventually found himself in a dungeon alone. Body parts and decapitated heads of his former soldiers littered the ground.

Shirou was distracted as he heard the old harpy start moaning again. But he hadn't done anything this time. He turned his head, to see a rather disturbed look in Saber's face. She was clearly attempting to leave the theater. "Don't like the movie?" He asked.  
"No... it's not that. I just... I just need to be somewhere. Go enjoy the movie Shirou,"  
It was clear she wasn't trying to be rude but without even looking back, Saber hastily left the room.

The boy felt a little hollowed out, like a gutted fish, but it couldn't be helped. _"I guess it hurts..."_

The movie eventually ended. The knight in the film was reunited with his princess despite losing his arm and eventually married. While the content of the movie was good, the end was pretty much a disappointment. The credits began to roll and Shirou decides to leave the room.

* * *

The refreshing lights of the lobby rejuvenate his eyes; they take some time to adjust after being locked away in the dark room beforehand. However, it wasn't long until he hit the large double doors of the main building, and sunk back again into the darkness of the night. It was late in the day. The moon was full in the sky watching him as he walked on the grey paving slabs. "I guess she left the building," The boy thought to himself as he glanced forth towards the dark night. Suddenly he felt alone. Only the whisper of a quaint breeze was there to comfort him. As the wisps of air tickled his nose and his senses, they traced over something stagnant. The smell of a freshly slaughtered pig perhaps. As Shirou turned the corner, his eyes graced upon some kind of dog ravaging at a bin.

No. It wasn't a mere trash bag. The animals claw dug into the front of the object, and sweeped some ragged cloth aside. Those were... clothes. As the animal rose it's head towards Shirou, he could see flesh dripping within it's jaws. It was completely hairless and had a strange glow to it's eyes. It was no dog. It was some kind of lumbering beast and it was eating the corpse of a dead man. _Repulsive_. Shirou could have vomited there on the spot, but this was no time to be ill. He had seen far worse in his past. But still... what was this creature doing here? By the looks of the ground and the stains of blood all over the demon that it had savaged this now indistinguishable victim.

"I'm daydreaming right? No. I can't be," Shirou asked himself. He didn't have time to think further. The lupine had grown quickly bored of it's meal and was keen on taking this boy down as it's next victim.

"Trace... On!" After some moments of visualising, the boy called forth two weapons to his hands as if by thin air. They were short swords of dual design, one being white, the other black. He held the black one in the defensive position and it received the punishment of the creature as it bit with it's jaws and dug in. Up close, it looked grotesque. You couldn't call it an animal; it's flesh smelt of rot and was open and raw. It's bones on it's arms and legs barely had muscle on them and it's body was similar to that of a starved dog. It was much larger than Shirou had fully anticipated too, the size of a human if it were able to stand on its hind legs. He could have mulled over the details of this diabolical fiend all day but he knew he needed to act. He swooped downwards with his free blade; striking the lupine precisely on the head; causing a sickly purple ooze to drain from it's body and stain the brilliant white of the sword. For an attack that should have killed a man, the creature merely jumped backwards momentarily. It was hard to notice it taking any sort of pained reaction towards the weapon striking it. Not even a whimper. Well, considering the state the creature was in already it was difficult to consider it a living being.

And so it leapt again. Shirou had little time to react; he placed himself in the defensive position once again. The hairless lupine jumped higher, this time soaring above the swords until it clashed with the wall high above the boy. It landed there somehow, and stuck there, like a spider to the wall and looked down to him like a lowly pawn, snapping it's jaws. From this angle, it could easily land on Shirou. Surprised by the manoeuvre, Shirou spun around, only to be pinned like paper to the ground. He felt a warm body slump onto him and within moments a face of a demon greeted him point-blank. With one of it's front claws it dug with it's long nails, drawing blood. It's skin meeting his fresh cut was like salt on the wounds.

_"Is it possible I could die here? To a mere dog?"_ Shirou sighed and laughed under his breath. _"How... amusing."_

A purple sphere of light landed on the demon's head and promptly exploded, blowing it's head clean off. It still continued to move however, but it's body was now light enough to allow the boy to push the body of the creature off of him. He looked towards his side, to see what potential threat awaited him. His eyes landed on two glimmering purple jewels ahead in the darkness, but like a bird fearing it's predator, they were gone. As he turned around to inspect the beast, it still wondered around aimlessly, but it was slowly growing weaker. Eventually it would die without it's head, so Shirou decided to chase after the jewels of purple. After all, his curiosity was now piqued. He wanted to know who they belonged to, and if it was related to that light ball just now that completely decapitated that beast.

Or perhaps maybe... it was aiming for his own head instead?

It was a scary thought. But curiosity killed the cat, as they say. To be honest, Shirou didn't really know where he was going. He ran past several estates, a ball park and through multiple busy streets. Eventually, his foot hit familiar turf. As he looked upwards, he realized he had reached a particularly large estate, with a moderately sized garden. This building; this was his home. As he stopped to mull over it, he understood now that the thing he was searching for was long gone. Since he was in front of his home, he decided to call it quits and retire there.

He wondered if what he saw tonight was all a dream. All imaginary. _"I could perhaps have been hallucinating after that pretty scary movie that night. That movie... that Saber didn't seem to like very much,"_  
He wondered where the girl could have gotten to. She didn't wait for him in the lobby, or outside the cinema. Just thinking about it made him fill with anxiety more. Usually she would at least wait for him at his home... but no, not even that. "Perhaps I really upset her?"

He slung off his shoes and wondered into the hallway. At the end of it, he turned into an equally empty living room. The clock on the mantle piece pointed to 11 o' clock at night. It was late. Fortunately, the night was emerging into the weekend and he didn't have to attend his academy the next day. He was however, tired. He slowly retired to his room and got dressed in preparation for sleep. As he got down to sit on his futon, he remembered the wound that creature had made earlier on as it stung like a dagger lodged in the chest. However, he merely shrugged it off. It was a small cut, but it was a jarring reminder that the experience earlier in the day was no mere dream.

The winter cold made it easy to rest.

The boys eyes shut, concealing the view and flood a painting of imagination into his mind. He allowed himself to reflect the moments of what had occurred today once more into his brain before drifting off into slumber.

* * *

_The lights his mind melded into something familiar. An open space of white and snow. He saw himself stood there, in this familiar place. Not too far off stood a tower, leering beyond a cape. The cliff face fed the ocean as waves crashed endlessly against it. This place was... definitely nostalgic. He realised that this was a place he was at no more than a month ago. When he stood against a man with some jarring, twisted ordeals. It was the same day he learnt what Origin was and that there was another world cycling next to this one. Just like that rotting creature that had attacking him today._

* * *

The falling snow on the white world began to fall with tainted blood, staining the ground a stale crimson. It began to fall on his white shirt, his hair, his fingertips. The horizon sunk into a deep aubergine blackness. Within moments; the world was filled with horrid fiends, some like the one he had seen earlier, some completely different. Suddenly, this wasn't a heaven, it was a hell. Like the moment Lucifer himself fell, Shirou could not take the new world that surrounded him. He wanted it all to stop.

It was then a band of people; humans clad in silver emblems bearing an emblem of a red sword with fourteen strikes rushed from aside him and charged at the creatures like soldiers at war. Suddenly it was some kind of medieval fantasy where good faced evil. The clatter of knives and metal.

The clatter. The constant sound of metal clinging against each other. Then there was a giant thump, like a mallet hitting a wooden table.

That didn't sound right. The sound forced Shirou to wake up. He could hear the sound of clattering metal and ceramics in a room nearby, followed by some rather unusual thumps; as if someone was violently hitting a table. He got up immediately, while still in pajamas and rushed out his bedroom. As he ran down the hall, the sounds grew louder. Whatever was occurring was inside his house. He could hear the sound of a girl screaming as the last thump was made. It was almost as if this person was being _murdered_. "I'm coming to...!"  
Shirou screeched to a halt at the open door of the kitchen. In the room he could see two girls gathered. One girl had long purple hair and a white dress. Her hair was tied with a ribbon and her hand was on her mouth in shock. The other girl, was the same one he had attended the cinema with last night. She was leant over the table looking at an indistinguishable mess on the wooden chopping board. There was also a smashed plate on the floor. "You're not supposed to cut the carrots that way!" The girl with purple hair gave more of a warm warning, than a cold scolding.  
"Oh, I'm sorry," The girl apologized, looking confused. She then looked up and saw Shirou and her face suddenly turned red.  
The girl with the purple hair looked towards the door and saw Shirou standing there "Oh, good morning Shirou," She gave a cute smile.

"Hey there Sakura," Shirou smiled back. Her presence was completely non-threatening and she didn't even laugh once at his lazy attire; she just continued to beam her smile back.

"Shirou!" Saber suddenly cried out to him. Her face was still as red as roses, trying to avoid direct eye contact with him.

"Oh don't worry," Sakura explained "Saber was just trying to make some breakfast for you this morning, that's all. I guess she got a little carried away," She walked over to a dustpan and brush and began to scoop up the shards of ceramic.

"Don't you want a hand?" Shirou reached out.

"-You should go get changed first," A voice from aside him spoke. As he turned he was towered over by a tall woman. Her hair was long and purple like Sakura's, but in a much brighter tone and it descended down to her knees. She wore glasses over her snake looking eyes. She had a snarky grin on her face as she scanned over his costume. "Still waking up? It's nearly 10am already,"  
"Rider, what are you doing here!?"  
"I'm here to protect Sakura, what else?" She smiled.

Shirou knew this woman for a while. She wasn't exactly... a normal human, if at all. Her viper-like eyes pretty much gave that away in itself.

Shirou allowed the girls to to tidy up in the kitchen whilst he retired to his room and changed into his normal clothing. Just before he placed on his shirt, he looked at his bare torso. His wound was healing already, but it was a grisly reminder that what happened last night was no mere hallucination. He then realized that he had totally forgot to apologies to Saber for last night. Well... it didn't exactly seem like an appropriate thing to bring up at the time, considering Sakura being there. And considering his extremely good relationship terms with her... he didn't want her to take it the wrong way or anything.

Now fully dressed, he left the room and returned back down to the hall. He could no longer hear the sounds of the girls in the kitchen. Moving further onwards, he could hear them now gathered in the in the dining room. As he peeked in he saw a group of familiar figures sat around a table. Sakura looked up and noticed his presence and gave a whimpering face "I didn't mean to barge in like this,"

"It's no problem," Shirou replied. He looked around and saw an empty space with an unattended plate laid out. Aside it was Saber, kneeling quietly. "Saber was the one who came up with the idea of making you something. I just helped her out a little. But overall... I think it turned out pretty well," Sakura smiled.  
Saber was still somewhat reddened in the face. Despite the mess earlier, the plates were filled with gorgeous foodstuffs. "This looks really great," He brimmed with joy as he sat down beside the blonde-haired girl. Saber looked towards his smiling face. Deep down she was relieved that it wasn't all in vain.

After all that time, Shirou still didn't pluck up the courage to speak to Saber. I guess he didn't say anything for the same reasons as earlier; Sakura was there and he didn't want to upset her. Since she had now departed back to her own home along with Rider, the boy felt now was the optimal time to speak with her. Besides, she didn't mouth a word more ever since then. It was all a matter of searching for her first of all. Similar to the night before, he found himself needing to search around again just to look for her; this time in the vast expanse of the house. Fortunately, this time though, his efforts seemed to pay off. He caught Saber practising in the dojo at the opposite end of the manor swiping forward a wooden sword into a fighting position, before relaxing the sword upwards.

"Saber, where did you go last night?" His voice interrupted her practise and she didn't seem all too amused by it. But when she turned around to face him her face was neither angry or sad. "Was it because of the movie?" Shirou asked once again.

The girl closed her eyes. "I didn't mean to insult you in any way. In fact, I rather enjoyed the movie. However, I had to leave when I sensed an irregularity in the air outside the building, and so I left to deal with it," Saber worded her explanation back sternly.

Shirou could understand that much, especially considering that strange monster that attacked him was evidence enough of that. There was still however, some things he wished to clear up. "But why didn't you say anything?"

Saber's eyes suddenly widened, but after a brief moments thought she came back to him "I didn't want you to be in danger," Her eyes drifted with a little dishonesty. Perhaps she was trying to take the burden off of him, or something more. He decided not to pursue the questioning further.

"...I was attacked last night."

"-You were!?"

It was then Shirou decided to lift his shirt. The girl didn't gasp, but she definitely seemed surprised.. "That wound..."  
"Yeah," Shirou confirmed "I got it last night from some strange creature. Plus, there was something else there... a pair of eyes like lavender jewels. If it wasn't for whatever that thing was there last night, I might not have made it. But I lost track of where they went,"

"The aura I detected was most definitely something familiar to me, but I can't pinpoint exactly what that might be. Regardless, we must take extra precautions now in case there are more of them," Saber stepped towards Shirou and inspected his torso. Her fingers escaped her sword and her fingers closed in on the open wound. As she inspected it, her face turned pale.

"What's wrong Saber?" Shirou asked.

"That... that can't be what I think it is. Just looking at it makes me..." She was stopped as she turned away and ran.

"Wait up Saber!?" The boy was surprised. Shocked even. He had never seen her behave in this way; it was almost out of character for her. As Shirou chased after her, he saw the girl turn back once. She saw that he was following him entered another room, slamming the door behind her. Now Shirou was somewhat angry. "Just what the hell is wrong with you!?"

It wasn't long before he heard a voice behind the door. "It's... I mean...I'm fine. No, really. I just felt a little sick, that's all,"  
Now Shirou was really worried. He placed his hands on his hips and sighed. "It's fine. I can leave you alone for the moment. Would you like some water?"

"No thanks... I'm fine,"

It was almost funny how she was contradicting herself. But why react so badly over a cut that wasn't nearly as deep as it as it would have been in the past. He concluded he should leave her alone for a the time being. He wasn't ready to bother her some more after he disturbed her from training. He was a little shunned, if not torn.

It was then a booming voice shot down the corridor. "SHIROU, ARE YOU GOING TO ANSWER THE DOOR OR NOT!?" Before he could do or say anything, he could hear a wonderful sound of an explosion as his front door was ripped apart by impact magic. "Rin, you didn't have to destroy the porch!"  
"I didn't have to come all the way over here you know!" The girl cried back, following his voice.

Her red and black clothing merged into a blur as she rushed into view. She eventually stopped and turned around. There, Shirou saw something emerge. A small tentacled creature squiggled into view. It had about five or six legs, shifting back and forth like some kind of squirmy creature. It's legs were like veins; they connected to a main stalk and at the top of it was a giant looming eye. It seemed keen to chase down Rin despite being somewhat slow.

Shirou had seen something like this before. It left a trail of purple blood... similar to the blood the other creature poured from last night. And not only that... the eye on this demon struck down a cold feeling of nostalgia down him. "It's an Eyerus..." Shirou spoke "But what's it doing here!?"  
"It has a name!?" Rin stood and turned her head toward him, causing her long black hair and dual pigtails to flail.

"Yeah but, this isn't time to be chatting. Don't let that thing even touch you," Shirou spoke.

"If you do... well... I might have to end up killing you as well,"


	2. The First Day - The Seeds of Venom

**The Seeds of Venom**

The girl with the somewhat loose red clothing looked back at Shirou menacingly. "You'd do what!?"

Shirou turned his attention away from the girl to the ever advancing alien that lurked forth to them. "I don't have time to explain!"

It was then the door aside him flung open wide jarring him in the back and onto the floor with a thwack. Like a heavy board against the back, it was an instant sharp painful sensation. Before he knew what he was doing, he was on the floor. He could have contemplated what had just occurred, he was stared down at by a single large eye. It was close now. While the monster was short in size, being on the floor made it seem to tower over him. He could smell the rancid, tainted blood the creature constantly leaked from its legs; like a snail leaving a sickly trail.

Behind him, his master had quickly emerged from the doorway where she had once locked herself up inside. The calls of her master and the explosion of Rin's erratic entrance caused her to seek action despite being queasy mere moments before. Embarrassment and joking could have been exchanged here, but there was no time for that. The girl with the long, black hair shot several spherical bolts from the tips of her finger. She had to clutch tight to her arm so she could keep the shots as accurate as possible and the bolts landed aside the demon causing it to fall back somewhat.

Before Shirou could get up, silence oddly fell. As Shirou looked back from the ground, it was as if the two girls had been locked in time. Rin looked toward Saber. Saber looked not at Shirou, but the creature that approached, with her mouth wide open. Her face was filled with fear.

"Just what the hell is wrong with you!? That thing is tiny... you could easily crush it!" Rin bit back. Despite her harsh attitude deep down she was rather concerned. She knew well that Arthur herself would not embellish such drastic emotions so easily.

"No... I don't want this to happen all over again..."

She remained stood there as the creature approached Shirou. _("Shit... I wonder if she's scared of it because of that time...")_

Rin had to take the situation into her own hands. She aimed once again, her arm straight. A single finger on her fist pointed forward, directly at the eyeball. Then she once again shot a burst of magic at it, point-blank, just as it was about to attack him. The monster exploded into a splatter of purple blood, staining the wooden walkway. Shirou gave a disgusted look at the bloody mess that remained of it like a splattered spider, just several hundred times bigger. Rin borrowed her arm to Shirou and allowed him to latch on, helping him up. "God you two are useless," The girl scolded.

As Shirou looked around, he saw the blonde girl once more. Her eyes were still latched onto the dismembered body.

This stirred graphic imagery within her. Blood... her own blood being shed. A man wearing glasses. An eye, a living eye on tendrils much like the one she saw here today. And a frightening creature that resulted... a malevolent pale-violet dragon that shredded the airspace with it's call.

"Hey, are you alright Saber?" Shirou asked.

Suprisingly, the girl responded. However, she still had her eyes locked on the body. "This sickening aura. I keep feeling it again and again. It's because of these demons... they're... they're all the same. Just like the one from last night...,"

"Wait, you encountered something similar last night!? Why didn't you tell me about this?" Shirou asked wildly.

Rin's pupils contracted a little, being surprised at this sudden discussion. "What the hell are you two talking about? Is this related to that thing that followed me here?"

Saber had already took a step back. She seemed hesitant rather than chivalric for a change. Despite this, pressed her left hand against her chest and within moments, her body flashed white. After no more than a moment, Saber was dressed in a strange medieval battle garment, drenched in royal blue and golden linings; fine enough to fit a king. Her corset was guarded by a silver steel chest plate, decorated in foreign blue markings. A long dress of blue touched the ground, reinforced by three metal plates from the hips down on either side to protect the thighs from attack from either side. Her arms, now encased in the protection of steel gauntlets equipped an invisible blade that whirled air rapidly around it.

The Eyerus seemed frightened by her new appearance and it wasn't long before thrust forward the blade, quickly ending the life of the demon. Tainted blood dirtied the walls as it splashed from its body like an endless tap. The body gave off a foul smell, intoxicating, almost crushing. It made the three feel sick to their stomachs.

"Gross..." Rin complained as she retched at the body on the floor, as if it were a large squashed spider. "I hope you plan to clean this up!"

Shirou looked towards the carnage. "It won't be that easy. Like this I can't touch it physically."

"It's body is made of poison? Nasty," Rin replied.

Saber still felt uneasy. While she easily dominated her foe, she had other thoughts cross her mind. For one, the smell. It was disgusting, intolerable. It was that sensation those with motion sickness felt like, times a million more. It was heavy. It was crushing.

"Are you alright Saber?" Shirou took concern at her pale face.

Saber slunk her sword down a little, before reinforcing it in the ground to maintain her stability. "I'm fine. We should turn our concern to why Rin has decided to trespass on my masters grounds," She took a gentle step back before reverting her attire from the battle gown to her casual clothing once again.

Rin stuttered in surprise, her tsun-tsun attitude kicked in and she snapped back "Well it's not like I had a choice! That thing wouldn't stop following me, and my normal magic wouldn't kill it."

"Of course not. It is an unliving being from the netherworld. It is an undead." Saber.

"T-that thing is an undead!?"

The living room was rather noisy. Mainly because a certain girl with raven black hair had decided to reside there even without Shirou's permission. Shirou and Saber sat across ways from Rin, while the girl in black hair found herself comfortable in a lonely armchair directly across the table from them.

"It didn't even look like any creature from this world, or from anything I've studied in Magecraft," Rin complained. "It's not like you've seen this thing before so how would you..."

"Stop being so naïve, Rin," Saber began to get a little ticked off at her attitude, leaning forward, her eyes leering.

"We've seen those creatures before." Shirou added "All I know is that they were pulled from a different world. They seem small and harmless, but they seem to run on instinct and instinct alone. And if they manage to acquire a body, they can use it to cause even more destruction,"

"So like a catalyst?" Rin's eyes focused.

The blonde girl wavered a little "I would not know for sure. Shirou is more familiar on that subject. I am unable to recall much of that event... and I do not want to be reminded." She shrugged the vile chill off of her shoulders.

"I'll save you the interrogation for now, but it seems to explain why you seemed to fear that creatures blood. It's so unlike you Saber. To fear something... that is not only smaller than you, but also completely destroys my image of you being an unbreakable knight. You really are just a cowardice woman behind that sword,"

Saber stood up suddenly to combat Rin's words. "You dare say such a thing!"

However, the raven haired woman did not back down. She place both hands on the table and leaned inwards. "Well you can't exactly deny it." With that she stood as well, to mirror Saber, before turning away. "Well I guess it was pointless coming here after all. You can forget about me paying the repairs for your doorway. She made no delay in her leave, within seconds she had left the room. Saber still stood there, angered by the other woman's defiance.

"Rin had a point," Shirou finally spoke out. "We didn't even get a chance to hear her side of the story either."

"Why are you siding with her?"

Shirou groaned."You're misunderstanding Saber. She could have seen something that could have been crucial towards what's been happening lately. If this event and what happened before are linked, then there could be a lot of lives at stake. Saber... you haven't been the same since that day you know?" Shirou spoke calmly back, with some regret in his tone.

Saber fell into silence. "I do not even know what you are talking about,"

The halls of the Emiya estate were silent that night. The day had passed and Shirou and Saber had not spoken since then. Sakura had stopped off during the day and left without speaking and the moon had now begun to settle low in in winter night. Servant Saber stood atop the roof of the Emiya estate looking on towards the gibbous luna. It was a rather odd sight, to be perched upon a high ledge in nothing more than casual drabs. Her face had the look of someone wishing to leap; her eyes silently communicated with the sky, embracing the overlooking view.

Despite the argument during the daytime, that was not her wish. She enjoyed Shirou's company in honesty, but even she felt somewhat in conflict with her own attitude towards both him, Rin and her lack of chivalry. It was an uncanny, natural thing, however a cold rush sundered her spine as she pictured the eye being in her mind leap from the wooden floor and rush atop her. It's sickly tenticles burned her clothing and skin like acid and she could feel the pain rush through her mind. "Is this... fear?" She questioned the moon with her words, but of course, it did not answer. It was then a sense of the mind she felt the warmth and mana of someone else in the area with her. It was then a voice spoke out with a rather uncouth remark.

"I can smell it all over you, are you disguised or something?" An odd female voice from behind her spoke out.

Saber turned to greet with this person, but saw nobody. The voice called out once again. "Ah, so you're not a statue,"

"Who are you?" Saber swept back her hand. Her expression readied at the possibility of armed confrontation.

"My name is Zephyr. I am one that conjures the wind."

It was not until Saber turned forth to the moon again did she see a purple cat look back on her. It's small wings fluttered in the sky, and it's small body kept at Saber's eye level. "What type of demon are you?"

"I could ask you the same. You're drenched with Hex taint." Zephyr replied back. "I guess you don't understand my linguistics though, Hex is has been completely unbeknownst to this world until now. But then again I don't exactly bring malice with me, so you can tone down the aggressive gesture,"

"So you're from that world!" Saber was engulfed in vivid flashbacks. The same world as those vile creatures. Within moments, her expression reverted to one of hate and her clothing flashed a brilliant white. What was once her casual, innocent attire was now transformed into her blue knightly battle garbs and she struck forth with an invisible blade, seemingly conjured from the heavens. The cat dodged back carefully assessing the length of the so-called invisible blade.

"There's really no need to be so violent. Especially when there's lots of nasty monsters around that you couldn't possibly handle on your own in that state. Even one little splatter of blood on you and..." Zephyr was stopped as her feline eyes focused. She cupped her hands and formed a purple aura within her paws before firing it towards Saber. The knight dodged quickly, before the bolt struck something, causing it to shriek with a bloody cry. As she turned to see, she saw the corpse of a quadrupedal animal, it was like a dog, but completely stripped of fur. Only stagnant flesh and faint remains of it's head remained. Saber turned her head in amazement. She hadn't picked up the presence of the foul creature approaching at all.

"Someone thought it was a good idea to pull one monster from this world to here, and in doing so, it began to tear on the boundary wall. We're used to dealing with these monsters on our side, but it will be utter devastation to this town since you guys seem totally incapable of handling them. So now I have to find some way to stop the Hex spreading here too." Zephyr groaned and slanted an eye towards the knight "And of course, you have no idea what Hex is. Just think of it as a non-physical substance that corrupts substances. That's about the simplest way I can put it."

"I still don't know if I can trust you." Saber seemed adamant with her postion and concerned.

"If you don't trust me, you and everything precious to you will suffer a fate worse than death. If those things even bite you, you'll become just like them," Zephyr warned. _"She's got an aura just like him,"_

It was then the knight in armour realised placing a plated hand on her chin in thought. "Then Shirou could be in trouble,"

"If it's the guy sleeping in this building. He's fine," Zephyr replied. "Though I'm unsure why that is. Usually anyone attacked by them would most definitely be a zombie. Do you perhaps know if he's had any sort of enchantments or wardings placed on him?"

"Even if I did know these things, why would I tell you, hmm?" Saber replied angrily.

"I don't know, maybe because you love him or something?"

Saber blushed before shaking it off. Zephyr grinned "So it IS true." The cat's ears suddenly rotated backwards and she fell into concentration. Saber didn't understand her actions "What are you doing, cat?"

"Don't call me cat," Zephyr's voice was now in whisper as she tried to focus. "I'm a Hex Conjeror,"

_I call upon the brimstone of under,_

_I call upon the wish of night, _

_Summon the gate o'er purgatory,_

_Lend me your might!_

Saber stood and watched as the small creature pulled out a paw and swept it forward, causing it to shine a bright purple. Now with arm directly in front of her the light expanded into a massive circular glyph that surpassed the length of her body.

"Whatever you do, do not touch this gate," Zephyr finally managed to word after the incantation. Her ears began to prick. The gate vanished within her paws as if she had been told the ending to a story. "There is still one more demon around here. They're advancing faster than I expected,"

"How are are you able to detect them so easily!?" Saber was envied over the small animals potent ability over her own. "I couldn't sense them at all,"

"It takes some practise. I just happened to learn very quickly because it's something I do, hunting these beasts," With that, the small cat took flight, downwards into the streets in front of the house. As she darted a corner, she found her way into an alleyway. Saber leapt off of the rooftop of the Emiya estate and landed solidly on the ground, the metal of her armour clanged as it greeted concrete. Despite this, she was unscathed and continued her pursuit.

With darts of corners, Zephyr was eventually caught up to by the knight. But at this point, the cat had ceased and stared directly at a shambling monstrocity ahead of the way in an enclosed park. Some kind of once humanoid being with severely warped flesh; some of it dripping on the ground. Notably, upon it's head sat an Eyerus; it's tendrils had dug deep into the body controlling it like a sovereign. Unfathomable noises of flesh and poison mixing made the scene like a scene of a fallout. The basketball frame ahead was bent and twisted, wrapped in twiggy tendrils reaching from the grounds.

"Someone was victim of a seed," Zephyr clasped her paws at the advancing abomination.

"A seed!?" Saber shouted as the monstrosity drew closer, forcing her to step back in fear.

The cat threw forth a charged orb of light causing it to explode on the body of the shambled demon creating a cloud of smoke. "Seeds are just that, seeds. They are dispersed and grow into branched tree structures creating a suitable breeding ground for these Eyerus,"

The monster emerged through the smoke as if unscathed. The eye atop it's head stared dauntingly at those in front of it. "You have a sword don't you? Fight back!"

Saber hesitated. All of this was happening again. _"I need to concentrate," _Her sword still refused to budge, still lowered like a hound. Zephyr continued to fire barrages of controlled spells from her paws, causing more explosions. Despite losing and entire left arm this time; the cadaver still moved. It's strings were still pulled by its riding master.

"_I just need to focus. If I pretend it's not there, I can make it," _It was then Saber closed her eyes and rose her sword. Removing her sense of sight allowed her to hone in on the sounds of movement and the sickening stench of poison that bellowed her way. Still with eyes completely shut, she placed a step forward. It was then; as if her mind had opened. Suddenly, the black darkness was occupied by a moving purple shape in the center. It was indistinct, but it was there. She continued to move forward, eyes shut, but began to move faster and faster. She was running blind.

Zephyr was surprised, if not shocked at this. "Why are you..." Zephyr decided to stop charging her onslaught of magic in favour of allowing Saber to blindly charge at it. The monster screamed and began failing it's only arm, bloated by the venom of the poison that had inflicted it. Within moments, the body collapsed and fell in two halves as Saber swept her air-like sword outwards. The body slumped and fell into a messy heap, splattering tainted blood all over the concrete and Saber's own armour. The eye on the tendrils ejected from its now lifeless host body and scuttled. Zephyr aimed for it with a charged blast of purple energy generated in her paws, but by the time it landed with a bang; the Eyerus had darted into the shrubbery adjacent.

The cat looked back at the female knight, who still stood there motionless. Her sword was now retracted and she was standing still, breathing heavy. "Why are you just standing there!?"

Saber remained despite the cats angry words. It was then the feline perked up her ears again to the sound of heavy breathing. It was then finally broke free. "This sensation. I'm supposed to be one of _those. _Just being around them makes me feel like I'm about to turn!"

The cat fluttered closer to the knight. "Open your eyes, soldier," The cat worded.

For once, the knight did so and her emerald eyes met with the lavender eyes of the Hex Conjurer. She placed a paw on the girls forehead. "So it's true. You were one of them once,"

The cat flew backwards to give the girl some personal space. "But once an Eyerus or the Hex has claimed a victim, there is no going back. Unless by some chance some godly divine was performed... but even then, there would still be side effects like this. You're a lucky person, Saber,"

Zephyr pointed towards the venomous plant that twisted around the basketball pole. "You see anyone and anything, including plants and Terra, once touched by a seed cannot return to their old form. Essentially they're zombies, corpses, cadavers, say what you will. The being you just cut with your blade was once human, but his body was overtaken by that Eyerus,"

"So this sensation I'm feeling is...?" Saber placed her gauntlet on her chest and she continued to endure the heavy feeling that pushed her down.

"Normally, humans wouldn't just rush in and fight these things in the first place without special preparation. The air and blood alone can have dire consequences on your health both physically and mentally. Now when that pain subsides, we should probably return to your boyfriend,"

"That monster is still loose!" Saber realised pulling her hand from her chest, shaking off the remaining sensations that rattled both her brain and body.

After some pacing, Saber and Zephyr slammed through the closed door of Shirou's room. Shirou awoke abruptly to confront the noise, only to scream in terror at Saber's raised blade "WHAT THE HELL SABER?". He held out his hand, his eyes pale from shock.

"Wait," Zephyr spoke out softly.

Saber suddenly stopped and looked down on the orange haired boy giving mercy. She lowered her sword from the attacking position and apologised. "I am sorry Master!"

"I-it's fine! N-no need to apologise!" Shirou was still rattled from being awakened so suddenly in the darkness of night. "But what's with all this commotion..."

Before Shirou could finish, he let out a cowardly scream again and pointed at Zephyr. "Saber there's a monster b-behind you!"

Saber turned at his immediate order, only to realise it was the cat that had been accompaning her all this time. Blushing by the confusion, she confessed "She is of no threat Shirou, her name is Zephyr,"

The cat brushed off the idiocy "I'm a Hex Conjurer. I'll leave the explanations of my species for a later time. But right now, we have a problem on our hands. Fortunately, you haven't been made a victim yet,"


	3. The Second Day - Malice Emergance

**The Second Day. Emergence of the Malice.**

**Authors Notes:- This is a slow starting chapter, that gets pretty darn exciting near the end. (Horror elements, woo!) I had difficulty writing the beginning, but it starts to get pretty creepy from here on out. Enjoy!**

* * *

Under the dusk of night, a sleep deprived Shirou sat up on his futon at looked at the female knight with her accompanying purple cat. "So we meet again," The furry critter spoke. "We've met before?" Shirou scanned the back of his mind. Then he saw the gleam in her purple eyes. "Were you the one who saved my life the night before?"

"Yes. But at first, I thought I had arrived too late. You were already inflicted with contaminative damage. Yet here you are, still living and breathing," Zephyr dusted her paws and fluttered closer to Shirou's chest. "As I inspect closer the wound has fully healed. It's indeed a miracle. Your friend on the other hand can barely tolerate being near one of those monsters,"

Saber puffed up with annoyance. "You mentioned that anything was susceptible to that damnable force,"

"Indeed that's true," Zephyr giggled, looking back at the knight. "Actually, there's something about you especially that strikes me as odd, even with you being a summoned Heroic Spirit and all that. Are you familiar with the Drakon?"

"No I'm not." Saber replied.

"A close friend of mine was a Drakon. They were, initially, the first beings to step foot on Eden; the world which now plagues you with its wounds. They were great dragonic creatures that were near forced to extinction after the government of both the new and old generation deemed them too dangerous to live with the commonfolk. They were ordered to be slain. Every single one, harmless or not."

"And how is this story relevant?" Saber asked irritatingly, getting rather annoyed of meaningless stories.

"It's significant because I have reason to believe you might be one of those Drakon. It just feels to me that you've been holding back a lot of your potential power and-,"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Saber snapped back before quickly leaving the room.

Zephyr sighed. "I'm only saying so because it's relevant towards why this problem is here in the first place."

* * *

"So the gates opened because they were misused hm?" Zephyr sat on the armchair as light of the day leaked into the living room windows, signifying the new day.

"You better not get fur on that," Shirou complained.

Zephyr simply crossed her paws. "You're not taking me seriously," She shook her head in dismay before looking back at him. "You probably just think I'm just a little domesticated cat to you, don't you? Well, here's the news. I'm not. And if you don't accept my help, this entire town will be consumed within seven days."

Shirou seemed surprised for a change. "Just a week?"

"Well considering you left dealing with this issue for long, yes, I estimate a week-" Zephyr was interrupted as Shirou began to fidget before standing up. "What now?" She complained.

"I have to get going to school." Shirou replied. He picked up a folder carry-case that was hidden behind the chair he had been sitting at and began to make his way out of the door. "Hang on!" the purple cat jumped into flight and fluttered near Shirou's face. "Take me with you."

"Are you kidding, I can't take a cat to school!"

Zephyr lowered her head, showing emotions of detest. "Don't call me cat,"

Shirou found himself being followed down the oak planked hallway by a cat. The monster that dirtied the halls from the day before had been cleaned up by Zephyr using her bizarre magical prowess. He didn't want to question it too much though, if this creature could help solve the mysteries of those creatures that were attacking Fuyuki, then he'd be happy to welcome any help he could get. He was brought up on rather extreme ideals to prevent any civilian dying at any cost; and while those ideals were now squashed thanks to the iHoly Grail Wars/i, they were still important values to him in any regard.

As he approached the door at the end of the hall he heard a knock at it. It was then he heard a voice emit from behind it. "Shirou... ?" The modesty of the tone was uncanny.

"Aw crap, Sakura!" Shirou exclaimed. He began waving his arms like a child. Zephyr dropped down onto the floor and rolled over like a doll "It's fine, I've got this."

Shirou shakily opened the door, only to see the girl dressed in pink the other day. Her vibrant purple hair radiated through the sunlight. This time she didn't have her servant, Rider with her.

"H-hello Sakura!" Shirou tried to laugh off his panic.

"Shirou, I was wondering if you wanted to walk together to school today," She asked quietly with some shy qualities in her tone. She clasped her hands together as if in worry.

"Absolutely," Shirou responded, beaming back a smile towards the girl. Zephyr remained on the floor in a doll-like position. He was forced to leave the cat behind as he exited the building alongside Sakura.

* * *

It was nice to be out on such a bright sunny day for a change. The orange haired boy found it hard to understand how this town would be consumed a few days. He wondered if he could trust Zephyr and her unrealistic ideals. After some time, he and Sakura reached a road crossing and they stood and awaited the traffic lights to change.

Sakura took her eyes off of the path in front of her for a moment and looked "I didn't know you liked dolls,"

Shirou looked at her in embarrassment as a car passed in front of them. "I was just looking after it for a short while!"

"I see," Sakura seemed sad. She then looked upwards "Hey, the light on the crossing's green,"

They walked across the road together in an awkward moment of silence. As they hit the other end of the road, they resumed walking down the sidewalk, ever closer to the gates of the school. They began to hit a crowd of other students as they also made their way chatting, laughing and discussing how their weekend went.

_"Hey did you hear on the news? One of the teachers from the school was murdered last night!"_

_"Really?"_ The other student spoke up.

_"Yeah,"_ The male snot-nosed teen replied _"What's better is that it was Mr. Meshida . I really hated that cocky bastard."_

Shirou seemed distracted by tease students, but was snapped back into the zone by Sakura "Shirou, what's the matter?" She asked.

"Oh, it's really nothing," Shirou replied. He continued to face forward and shrug off thoughtless, childish words. But it still bothered him and Sakura could tell. Out of modesty, she decided not to speak up against it.

Besides the chatter of students, their travel through the gate and into the school was mostly uneventful. Shirou still couldn't get his mind off of several things, Zephyr for one and Saber, of whom he hadn't seen since the night before.

"Well this is where we'll have to split," Sakura spoke as she entered the school building entrance with the boy. The room was filled with locker rooms in several rows paired together, back to back. Sakura still smiled as she parted ways. Shirou waved "I'll be seeing you!"

He headed to his classroom and took his seat. He noticed it was considerably quiet in the classroom. Many students had not turned up at all, and it was causing a ruckus of chatter amongst them. The teacher finally arrived as well, albeit late, blaming it on traffic jams on the way down the highway. Class resumed for most of the day... mostly uneventful. However, discussion amongst the students limited itself to vile rumors of teachers and students being killed. Amongst all this though, something felt vacant in the classroom, which began to bother Shirou.

"Alright, so that just about wraps it up for the Algebraic Formulae today folks. Remember this for your tests," The man at the desk shut the large yellow book he was leeching all his answers from. It was obvious that this teacher was not familiar with the subject himself and was just borrowing answers from a puzzle book. The clock finally hit four PM and the students one by one began to eject themselves from their seats. Shirou remained for a bit, daydreaming his mixed thoughts. He still hadn't seen Saber or Zephyr throughout the day and it began to bother him.

"Shirou,"

A kind, familiar voice made him look upwards. In the empty classroom, in front of his desk was Sakura Matou, the one he had walked to school with. "How was your day?" She continued to smile.

"It was alright. Kinda boring at the end, but I hung in there!" Shirou chuckled.

"Shirou, I've been meaning to ask, have you seen Rin Tohsaka at all today?"

Those kind words seemed to sting Shirou like a wasp. Of course! Shirou hadn't seen Rin the entire day in his classroom, and this caused him to panic somewhat. Sakura cared for Rin, because despite their drastic differences in appearance, by blood they were both sisters once. "Don't worry, she probably called in sick. I'll go check on her," he replied.

"Oh, is that it? That's really unlike her though," Sakura frowned before leaving the room.

* * *

A blast of four black bolts lit up the basement with a light red hue before quickly fading into darkness. A small creature darted between the shots and directly aimed for the girl with black hair. She pointed her finger at it as it approached close and fired a black orb from her fingertips. It landed on the eye of the Eyerus and exploded. Rin sighed. "I can't keep going like this." She was noticeably fatigued after fighting in the room for quite some time. She was forced to step back, away from the monstrous centerpiece construct that hit the ceiling in the middle of the room. Whatever it was, it kept spawning monsters. "I don't think this thing found it's way under here on its own." Rin jumped back as another monster emerged from the pile of fleshy vines that swept the floor. Touching the stairs, she decided to make her retreat as the newly spawned monster gave chase. She reached for the door, before tripping into a roll, consequentially landing on the dirt outside the back of the school. It was then she realized the door was still open. As the fleshy lupine tried to jump through Rin leapt up and slammed the door shut. A large thump was heard as the creature came in contact with the wood, but she knew it wouldn't hold it back.

"If only my servant was still here." She began panting to catch her breath. "I'm glad I'm managed to hold those freaks off as long as I did. But now I'm almost certain..." Another loud thud erupted from from the door as it shattered into wooden shrapnel. The lupine snapped at the splinters and looked towards the girl, ready to devour her. Rin threw up a red stone and shattered it between her fingers, firing a blast of crimson light, burning the beast. However, the creature didn't falter, it continued to advance despite the notable injuries on its body.

* * *

Shirou ran down the halls of the empty school corridor. In a rush, he ran into Zephyr down at the end by a pair of double doors. "What took you so long?" Shirou asked.

"I came to look for you because you humans are incompetent at realizing there's a massing of hexated energy emerging from underneath the building!"

"Under the school!? How?" Shirou questioned the absurdity.

"Someone placed it there on purpose."

"What kind of sick bastard would-"

"We don't have have time to mull over this, we need to find the basement, now!" Zephyr charged some magic at the closed doors, melting a hole large enough to allow her to pass through. Shirou chased after her, leading into the outer grounds of the school. Shirou began hearing strange noises and the howl of a creature nearby, as well as the scream of a familiar voice. "Rin!"

Zephyr dashed towards the back of the building at full speed. As Shirou finally managed to catch up, he saw Rin on the floor, with a demon atop her. She was screaming in pain. Even with it just standing atop her, she could feel it's body begin to burn her like acid. It's jaws dripped with crimson blood. The cat darted forward and shot an orb at the beast, with the impact causing the demon to slump to the side and detonate into pieces. Rin remained on the floor in discomfort and Shirou rushed to her aid. He leaned over and inspected her damaged body and her dirtied hair. Even though the monster had not been given the chance to bite into her, she was noticeably burning. Slowly, Rin reached out a hand and smiled weakly. "Shirou... I tried to hold them off,"

"You mean..."

"Someone placed a some weird stone in the basement of the school. Before I got the chance to interrogate them, the seed sprouted instantly. If I had left to chase the man, that seed would have spread throughout the entire school and many lives would have been... lost," Rin gave effort in her words, her body burned intensely from the after affects of the venom. Zephyr pushed Shirou aside. "If I don't tend to her body soon, she will soon become one of them." The cat fluttered over her chest and examined the poison burned on body causing the surfaced veins nearby to tighten. "Indeed I must hurry," Zephyr closed her eyes and place a paw on the girls chest, upon the white 'cross' symbol. "H-hey... watch where you're touching...!" Rin complained with a weakened voice.

"Be quiet Rin, let Zephyr do her work," Shirou scolded.

The cat concentrated for a moment, and her paw began to light up Rin's body a faint purple. It was as if her body was being washed with water, cleansed through and through. For a moment, her body lifted completely from the ground and she fell into a temporary slumber. As this was happening, the venomous splatters on her body began to withdraw and the risen veins relaxed. As the spell broke, Rin fell back to the ground with a thud and immediately found herself able to sit up, nearly thwacking Zephyr, noggin to noggin. "Just what was that sorcery?" Rin questioned as he opened and closed her hands, checking if they were functioning properly.

"I purged you of the poison that entered your body. If I hadn't of acted sooner you would have most definitely become one of them,"

Rin looked to her side at the messy corpse that had once stood on her. "You mean one of those freaks!?" Zephyr nodded in response.

"That's a scary thought," Rin clenched her arms around her waist and shivered, before standing up, dusting off her short, black skirt. All the wounds on her body had vanished. "Oh that's right! That door... there's a strange formation growing in there that's creating these monsters!"

She looked around towards an open door, descending into a black, void-like space. Shirou and Zephyr peered and they fell to silence. But the noise of a creaking building was definitely apparent; and within seconds, a huge magnitude of vines erupted from the space. "If we don't hurry, that space could awaken a Terraform," The cat seemed genuinely worried.

"What's a Terraform?" Shirou asked.

"It's an exceptionally large demon. If a monster wonders the plains of corruption for a time, it will eventually evolve over say a decade or so. However, so close to a seed, in such an enclosed space, it could allow that process to occur much more rapidly, like an incubator. The monsters that result are called Terraforms, exceptionally huge mutants that destroys anything in its path,"

Zephyr sped towards the basement entrance. "I'm the only one who can fight these creatures,"

Shirou rejected this statement. "That's absurd! You can't fight them alone!"

_"If you join in you'll just die,"_ Zephyr continued to advance, seemingly ignoring him. Regardless, Shirou still followed. Tohsaka stood there, unknowing what to do. "Y-yeah! Just go on without me why don't ya?"

* * *

Saber walked through the school alone, placing her hands on the walls and sensing the taint that pulsated through the brick. She was still dressed in a full suit of armour and her metallic shoes clanged as they hit the lino flooring, disturbing the quiet space. Even under the armour plates of her gauntlets, she could feel the same beat gently pulsing. "I wonder if I am really a Drakon... whatever those are," She spoke aloud to herself. "Whatever it is though, this place is having an affect on me,"

"You too?" A low tone of a man spoke behind him. "I thought I was alone in that regard,"

Saber turned to greet the noise, and faced a large human figure at the end of the corridor. "Just what are you talking about? Who are you?"

"My name is Maverick Elderson. Since I was so kind to give you my name, give me yours," He spoke back.

"My name is Arturia Pendragon," She replied.

"So the King of England was actually a woman? I never thought I'd see that coming. What's even more interesting is that the country was led by a demon!" His toned turned darker as he started to laugh.

"That is not true!" She cried back, tightening grip on her invisible sword.

"Or is it because my brother transformed you into one at one point?"

Saber gritted her teeth. "You have the nerve to say that?" As she readied her sword to charge, the man gently worded "There's really no time for this. Your friends are in danger right now, so you should go save them," He chuckled before walking off behind a corner. As Saber attempted to follow, he had somehow already vanished by the time she got there. Rather than waste time, she decided to hurry and search for her allies around the school. She put power in her step and an energy pulsated from her foot, causing her to charge forward at an incredible pace. However, she could feel the essence of change in her power and the room alone was greatly affecting it. She knew in her heart that she was growing closer to the source. Closing her eyes she tried to visualize like she had done the night before and without much concentration, she could pick up a strong purple aura from under the ground.

* * *

Walls lined with vines like a jungle, stretching, reaching, conforming. The center pedestal was barely visible, organic eyes stared from every corner of the room. It was a nightmarish scene, concocted by mania of man. Shirou looked around and Zephyr fired bolts at it's core "This is what a seed can become if it is not quickly contained. Soon, a Terraform will emerge and the entire school will be consumed,"

"Is there anything we can do?" Shirou summoned a sword into his hands from thin air and bashed away an advancing vine.

"My powers damage it, but it's not enough to keep it from regenerating. It's developed too far now for me to keep it down," Zephyr tensed her paws as she ejected another blast detonating a portion of the fleshy 'body' in the center. It was then more vines emerged to protect the towers now vulnerable state from further harm. One caught Rin off guard and snagged at her leg, pulling her from the ground, holding her upside-down and leaving her hair dangling. The boy could have laughed at the fact the girl's white briefs were showing thanks to her short skirt drooping down, but that was not the means of focus.

Shirou slashed another vine before he himself was grabbed up by a loose one behind him. His free arm wielding the blade cut it off, but another firmly latched onto his slashing arm making him unable to fight back. "Shirou!" Zephyr cried before her body was wrapped in a slimy vine. "Damn it!" The cat began to bite at the cable.

As the party felt they would spend their remaining lives in darkness, it was then a flash of gold erupted from the doorway. "EXCALIBUR!"  
The body screamed as it was inflicted with the gold light. Shirou was filled with hope as he saw his knight in shining armour descend the stairway which was now clear of vines. Her silver armour gleamed radiantly against her magnificent sword, which was no longer invisible and in plain sight, displaying its true glory. It was then the vines attached to his arm weakened and rotted away. Rin dropped to the floor with a thud. She was less concerned with the pain of falling than the fact she had been showing her underwear for a few minutes beyond her control and looked away from the orange haired boy in embarrassment. The central body continued to grow as its vines weakened and Shirou used the opportunity to approach his servant. "Saber!" he cried.

"Watch out!" Saber's expression quickly changed from a calm one to a tense one as she pushed Shirou down out of protection. A shot of black ooze was fired, penetrating her chest and causing her to utter a scream. She collapsed to the ground, her sword went spinning, and she clenched her chest. Her muscles in her body tensed and cramped as it endured the pain. Her head spun as the venom seeped within. Shirou kneeled down in concern. "Saber...!"  
Her free gauntlet pressed the ground and clenched a root vine upon the floor and she squeezed it tightly until it was crushed. "...Besides Zephyr, I'm the only one who can resist the... burning pain of these creatures," Saber gasped for air as she finally reached for her sword.

Rin seemed worried "Zephyr! Can you save her!?"  
"My power is too weak against someone with so much mana. Knowing her background, she should have the will to fight back on her own, just as long as she remains where she is and doesn't engage in more fighting!" Zephyr cried back.

Rin shot bolts at the center, trying to draw attention away from Saber as she recovered, with Shirou by her side.  
It was then, the monster roared again and aimed for Rin with a blast of black, oily liquid. As Rin shrieked, Saber stood up, her eyes filled with fire while her body struggled. "What are you doing Saber!? You're too weak to fight!" Shirou contested.

"Don't be so reckless, Arturia," Zephyr spoke as she beat away at another vine. "You may be immortalized in the Hex, but it won't stop you from turning if you expose your body so much,"

Even despite this, Saber leapt in front of Rin, only just managing to take the blow for her. The room fell to silence "Why did you have to go a be an idiot!?"

Saber struggled to stand. Her hair and body was partially drenched in the black oil, and it was hard to tell where the blood on her wounds wept from. "S-shut up..." She growled as she attempted to hold back the temptation of malevolence. Her eyes vented glowing slits for a moment. "If what that demonic cat says is true, I am the only damnable thing that has the slightest chance against such a massive creature." She endeavoured to remove the sword from underneath her wrists that was keeping her standing and began to slowly slog towards the center body, her eyes focused on its center. As she moved, a black aura dripped from her skirting. "I can take whatever evil this dishes out and throw it right back," She dropped her sword and flexed her gauntlets. It was then they flashed and sharpened into silver claws, causing the black aura around her to burn vigorously. She grabbed once again her magnificent sword and vowed in a dark tone to the immobile beast "I'll send you to purgatory,"

The monster born from the seed seemed greatly disturbed from her sword, and suddenly, the pedestal center tore wide open, revealing a huge mouth, ready to devour anything in it's wake. The vines attacking Zephyr now directed themselves at Saber and her sword, Rin and Shirou could do nothing but watch as two immense powers clashed.

Still dripping in hex, Saber roared, grabbing the handle of the Excalibur with both clawed hands and raised it high. While the blade remained gold, the energy that began to circulate around it violently was a morbid black; constantly swirling. The monster cried in fear, as if it knew her intentions. _**"Behold... and be destroyed into a million tiny shreds..."**_ The vines struck close but not fast enough. The black energy that now surrounded the knights sword was swung down, making the room making impossible to see.**_ "...to EXCALIBUR!"_**

An immense crash thundered the room followed by the loudest of screams as the monster was crushed under the weight of the power. Zephyr was blown backwards into Shirou who then was pushed into Rin. Her back hit the stairway, causing impact.

As the black light cleared, Saber stood in a room with all but the bloody remains of a creature slowly evaporating away. The claws on the tips of her Gauntlets were still visible, but now dirtied in purple blood and the black aura around the blade still encompassed it. The room fell to silence, besides the trickling sound of blood or some sort of liquid from the walls. Saber remained still, breathing heavily like a being near death. Shirou stood up and decided to bravely approach.

"Shirou... she's expelled far too much power. Don't approach her." Zephyr warned. "Come on, we should focus on getting out of here. She's beyond our help now."

Shirou's foot trod down on a messy part of the floor, the carcass of the body creature causing his shoe to squelch. It was then Saber slowly turned her head around. Her eyes were slitted green and burned wildly like an animal. "S-shirou, stay where you are,-" Her fists tightened once again as she tried to contain a deadly power emitting from her body, trying to escape.

"Shirou, you don't understand me, she could transform into a monster at any moment! When that happens you might die!" Zephyr's warning changed into demand, but the naive boy still ignored it.

He was undaunted by the intimidating eyes and fangs, defiantly moving forward. "I've reached my limit-" Saber's voice dwindled off, trying to remain with it.

It was then Shirou touched her shoulder regardless. "Don't be stupid," It was the soft touch of Shirou's hand that caused Saber to shudder with fear. Mighty blades cut through her gauntlets, threatening him to stay away. Rin watched in horror "Are you just going to let that happen!?"

"I won't stop him. If he dies, it's no longer my concern. I alway warned him the first time." Zephyr replied.

It was then a tear flung from Rin's eye as she was engulfed in a wave of unusual emotion, causing the building to echo as she cried out to him. "But he could die!"

"Then that will just be how it will have to be. I'll be ready to kill his servant as soon as it turns,"

Saber roared again, but that was when Shirou decided to advance, putting his hands around her waist. This caused her to stop and drop her sword from her clawed gauntlets. It was then he whispered to her "I believe in you,"

It was then Saber's head tilted upwards, and her knees collapsed, causing Shirou to tighten his grip, to keep her lifeless body standing. It was then the blades from her gauntlets finally relaxed and retracted, and the metal plating returned to normal. Her eyes became darkened, before closing and falling. Her magic on her body dispersed, until the magical knight garbs along with the Excalibur vanished and she was in Shirou's arms once more in her white shirt and skirt casual attire.

"He actually did it," Rin's eyes widened in surprised and she stood up.

Zephyr still seemed unimpressed. "No matter what he does, it's just going to get harder from here on, out,"

Shirou too was still concerned. However, he was still happy that Saber was under his care. He carried her up the stairs, with Zephyr and Rin following behind. It was then he saw the figure of a man pass by. Perhaps a witness?

"Hey! You there, can you help us?" Shirou shouted out.

It was then the figure retreated into the shadows.


	4. The Third Day - The King of Kings

**The Third Day - The King of Kings  
**

* * *

_On the night one month ago; a crusaders heart was removed after being tricked by a demon. Since a man allowed the demon to enter his heaven, all the other demons began to grow envious of this move and as a union, wished to enter this paradise as well. Using an open gate left by this man, they began to seek their entry. As more creatures moved into the world, the knight grew weaker; knowing that as soon as the earth was engulfed, they would be too._

* * *

**"Welcome to Kenji News. We've just had some breaking news within the last few minutes with the possibility of a group of murderers are roaming the streets of Fuyuki and ambushing trespassers. We've also had reports that one of those murders occurred in the basement of Fuyuki High School. On top of this, each location pictured has been noted to give adverse side effects including nausea and dizziness. Police and officials are warning to keep away from such areas, and as a result many shops and places of work will be disrupted throughout the day. We'll keep you posted as-"**

The brunette female with the newreading papers was interrupted as the screen of the television turned blank.

It was early morning and the bask of sun resumed its potent shine through the open windows of the living room. The girl in red, Rin Tohsaka, had reached for the television remote and turned it off. Zephyr hovered over her shoulder, as if she was some kind of Magical Girl with a weird pet. Rin seemed surprised at her approach. "Hey don't creep up behind me like that!"

"I apologise,"

"So Shirou is still in that room huh?" Rin asked.

Zephyr simply nodded. It was that response that made her feel now was the time to pay a visit. Before she had a chance to move, the phone in the corner of the room began to ring.

_Briiiiiiiinnnngggg..._

_Briiiiiiiinnnngggg..._

_Briiiiiiiin-_

"Hello?" Rin spoke into the plastic phone attached to a cord.

"Oh... Rin?" A modest voice spoke from the device. "It's Sakura... I was supposed to be phoning Shirou, did I get the number wrong somehow?"

"No... this is the right place."

It was then Sakura went silent for a moment. Rin seemed a little concerned for a few seconds but as she plucked up to speak out, her blood-sister replied "Could you please pass a message along to Shirou when he's there... that the school is closed today?"

"Oh alright then," Rin didn't seem too surprised. "Is there anything else you want to tell him?"

"Well... I can't come over today," Sakura had regret in her tone. "I'm so sorry, something came up and-"

"Don't you worry about a thing," Rin interrupted.

"O-okay then. I'll make it up to him tommorrow, I promise. I guess I'll be seeing you."

Rin firmly placed the phone down. She felt it was about time now to check on how Shirou was doing, since he hadn't moved from last night.

* * *

Zephyr had already beat Rin to the room further up the corridor; Shirou's room. The boy graced his eyes over the sleeping maiden, waiting for her to leave dormancy. He thought hard over the net of complexities that had occurred the nights before and wondered how he could confront them. For a moment, his mind dipped into a well of shadow. "I feel so useless."

"It was an inevitability." Zephyr spoke.

Shirou turned to face the cat creature. "You said she was supposed to resist the Hex and now because of you...!"

"Now, now." Rin scolded. "I don't think it's entirely Zephyr's fault."

"What are you talking about-" Shirou was stopped.

"That knights heart was already ripped out before I got here. She is fully capable of fighting all of this on her own if she so believes in it; but that was only because something already reached inside her body and triggered a spiral of Hex." Zephyr interrupted Shirou with her long winded babble. "It's a problematic situation. If she can't learn to take the increasing pressure of the Hex as it evolves each day, then this town nor the world surrounding it will survive."

"_Survive...," _An eyelash flickered as the blonde girl opened her eyes slowly and slowly sat up. "You're all here."

It was then she felt arms wrap around and tightly around her small body. "Saber!" Shirou exclaimed.

"Watch out, if you squeeze her too much she might pass out again," Rin joked before her expression soured into a somewhat jealous face.

Saber tried contemplate why so many surrounded her. It was then when she placed fingers from a single hand against her forehead and finally realised. "So that wasn't a dream."

"This is Edge's fault, not yours Saber," Shirou stood up.

It was then Saber opened her eyes wide in surprised. "Maverick Elderson!"

Shirou was confused by her sudden outburst. "Who's he?"

Saber turned her head to face up to the boy. "I encountered him in your school when I was looking for you. He said he was related to Edge. His brother."

Rin clenched her fist "That conniving bastard must have been the one who planted that seed!"

Zephyr nodded "Certainly seems like it. Whatever the case we need to plan our next move, and quickly. Unfortunately, we have no real leads where he is now. What I'd like to find out is where the first gate to Eden was ruptured."

"There's only one place." Shirou replied.

The place in his dreams. The scape of green that rises into a cliff, surrounded by the lick of the ocean and watched by a stone tower. "It's not far from here." Shirou explained.

Saber got up slowly, before Zephyr zoomed in close to her personal space. "What do you want now?"

"I would like to try something. But not here, outside if we're able to. We need a large open space without many people around... I think Shirou's estate should have a perfect garden. We'll all meet there later. But for now, relax for this morning."

None of them seemed convinced, especially Shirou of whom was the most protective. "Just what are you planning?"

"Just meet there later... I'll explain everything then."

* * *

Shirou spent the rest of the morning in the kitchen attempting to create a meal for everyone in the house. He felt it was his turn to do the work sinvce he found out from Rin that Sakura wasn't stopping over today. He chopped away at meat on a chopboard, before placing it in a frying pan and sighed. It was then he moved over to a draw and looked around, realizing he didn't have a wooden spoon. He pulled his shuffling hand from the drawer and shut his eyes. Within the black space of his mind, he visualized the object he was missing. "Trace On!"

His hand tightened as a solid object fell into his palm, and when he opened his eyes; the ladle from his mind appeared. A foreign hand placed itself upon his shoulder "Stop cheating."

Shirou turned and his brown eyes met with the emerald eyes of Saber. "Oh, I'm sorry," He apologized. It was then he noticed his servant seemed unusually mesmerized by his cooking arts.

"I forget that when someone's cooking you just can't help yourself can you?" he chuckled before resuming his work.

"I just like what you and Sakura do... that is really all there is to it. Do you perhaps need any help with this?" Saber seemed eager to help her master.

"You sure can," Shirou smiled.

It was then she smiled a little and searched the draw beside him. She searched adamantly for something and the clatter of metal made him concerned. "What are you looking for?"

Saber then pulled out a gigantic meat cleaver, that was somehow stowed away in the tiny cupboard. "We need something reliable to cut through anything that stands in our way." She held it up in the air like she did with the Excalibur. She seemed entirely serious, but from Shirou's angle, it looked somewhat ridiculous. "We don't need a knife that big, I've already got one out," Shirou pointed to the smaller knife he had just used on the meat.

Saber seemed disappointed and confused. "But Shirou, how can something that small be effective?"

She smashed down the giant knife repeatedly on the chopboard three times, before it finally gave in and split in two. "See, this is much more durable!" Shirou opened his eyes in shock and began to flail his arms as he watched his poor chop board become a victim of a guillotine. He grabbed both her wrists to prevent her from doing further damage.

After a while things began to settle down. Shirou assisted Saber with his arm, imparting his chef knowledge on what to do. "Thanks Shirou," Saber seemed embarrassed "My lack of talent seems to be doing more harm than good. I was never allowed to cook."

"I imagine all the chef's at you castle did the cooking for you right? It's fine, you've got to learn from somewhere," Shirou replied comfortingly.

"Shirou." Saber's voice darkened.

"What is it Saber?" Shirou addressed her quickly.

"**We should do things like this together more often. Say tomorrow or later we-**" Saber sounded morbid.

"It's not like the world will end. You have nothing to worry about Saber."

"It does not matter. She still thinks me as some monster. Do you think the same Shirou?"

"Zephyr..." Shirou trailed off a little, failing to fully respond to her question. Saber could see in his face that he was unsure how to answer.

* * *

After the meal, Shirou dusted his hands and left the dining room. It was then he saw Rin, one foot against the wooden panel wall, her arms crossed. "Shirou. I want a word with you,"

"What about?"

"It's a warning. Be careful. If you stop taking this situation so seriously by trying to play the act and forget what's going on, it's going to hurt you later. We need to go meet Zephyr outside now, I don't know what she's planning but the sooner it's over the better. I want to look forward to finally going home when things are safer around here."

"A-alright then," Shirou was unsure what she really meant. Wasn't it obvious that he was being as careful as he could? All he could do was keep moving forward as each day came, tackling the situation head on.

* * *

As the boy ventured outside, he saw Zephyr hovering in front of Saber at eye level. The cats ear perked as she heard the scuffling of Rin and Shirou's shoes.

"Ah, good to see you here finally. Stand at a good distance. I need space to cast my magic," Zephyr warned as she too fluttered backwards.

Everyone besides the cat were confused. "Excuse me... but what are we doing? Why do you need me in my armour like this?" Saber asked.

"I'm going to perform a small ritual. It will prove two things to me in doing so. The first, is that it will help us find out if the tower Shirou mentioned really is the location of this problem. Secondly, it will prove to me if you are a Drakon. Are you ready?" Zephyr asked.

"Are there any side effects to this spell?" Rin asked intelligently.

"Well, it is testing Saber's endurance, that's for sure. I'll be exposing her to extremely high quantity of Hex at a singular pressure-point, forcing out the drakonic evolution. It's a kind of controlled transformation if you will. However, if she is truly incapable of handling it, she's just turn into a Terraform we'll have to slay."

Shirou's face changed to one of anger. "You've got to be kidding me! I can't let you do that to her! I won't let you!"

"Quiet. She has a point to this. If we keep going on like this then your Servant most definitely won't make it. You're an incompetent Master," Rin scowled.

It was then Saber stepped backwards. He sword was in her hand, but she planted it in the ground and left her hands free. "I'll do it." By now the knight was tired of all this pain in her body and the hollowness of her heart.

Zephyr clasped her paws together and charged a purple sphere between them. She pulled the sphere apart as she pulled away both her limbs. "Even knowing you could become something that could kill Shirou right here and now, along with the rest of the city?"

Saber shook her head. "I won't let that happen."

Shirou began to sweat in fear. He could only imagine a fraction of what Saber was going through. Was this cat truly sane? Was this even a good idea? He completely disagreed. But as long as Saber agreed; there was nothing he could do.

Rin just watched silently, observing Zephyr's technique. "You're a mage Rin. Watch closely and I can pass this spell onto you!" Zephyr homed in closer with her two glowing paws and reached close; stretching them out until they hovered over both points of her shoulders. It was then a gate erupted from below her plated boots.

_I call upon the brimstone of under,_

_I call upon the wish of night, _

_Summon the gate o'er purgatory,_

_Lend me your might!_

Zephyr's paws then came in contact with the points her paws had hovered over, blasting a bolt of purple. _"This spell... reaches into the very depths of hell itself..."_ Zephyr communicated telepathically through the air. Saber reacted immediately, trying to put her hand to her chest, but unable to because of Zephyr being directly in front of her face. _"Hex is the equivalent of Hell. That is why they call us Hex Conjurers..."_

"_That is why the very fabric of our species is forbidden in every land._

_We seek only to do good..._

_but the people always feared us."_

Shirou and Rin seemed disturbed. Both they and Saber now began to wonder what this creature was truly trying to achieve. The knight was now quite clearly suffering, as if acid was burning her inside out. "Shirou... I-" Saber could feel the darkness well up in her very being so quickly. The chattering of demons raced through her skull rapidly, faster and faster. This was nothing like what she had experienced one month ago... it was worse than any dream.

"_Shirou... give her some support, she could break at any second!"_ Zephyr warned. While the cat didn't panic, she would be the first to die if the boy's Servant went insane.

It was already clear enough to see. Saber's eyes glowed more furiously than the night before. Her fists were tightened together like silver clamps.

"Saber, you can do it!" Shirou cried. He didn't know what else to do besides listen to the cat.

"Shirou... I can still hear him," Saber growled as she focused on his voice, rather than the voices nipping away inside. It was at that moment, it was as if Zephyr had shot a bolt through her body right to the other side; as the two points her paws rested on ejected two red bladed matters from her back. They folded over twice, the talon ends were blood red, with lavender bones and leering jewels for eyes like heads.

Rin was surprised. "What the heck are those?"

Shirou had seen them before. "I think they're supposed to be wings."

"Are you joking!?"

"_Shirou is right." _It was then Zephyr pulled her paws from Saber's body and stood back. The gate below her shoes faded.

Saber's mind cleared a little as Zephyr stood away. She was surprised to find herself still standing as she looked around at everyone. Besides feeling a little fatigued she felt mostly the same. "I don't feel any-" It was then she saw a shadow over her head like a washing line. As she looked up, she saw two familiar objects; two slunked bloodied talon wings look down upon her. Saber seemed a little shocked. "These are!-"

"They are Drakon wings. Those who prove they are a Drakon are able to display their wings, but as for you, I had to force them."

"They look freaking scary," Rin rubbed her eyes. She knew she had seen Saber nearly lose it the night before, but this was something else. She felt intimidated, if not daunted by them. They didn't match her honorable visage in the slightest and looked ready for a brutal killing.

"Now what do we do?" Shirou asked. "We can't go around town with her like that... it's way too realistic for cosplay. We won't be able to get to the tower without being noticed." Shirou complained.

"I never planned for us to walk there." Zephyr looked over at Saber. "Your wings should be strong enough to fly both Rin and Shirou to that same place."

Saber pointed to the sky with a distraught face. "I can't fly!"

"Weren't you able to before Saber?" Shirou asked.

"How much have you not been telling me from last month?" Rin simply shook her head and shrugged.

Saber crossed her arms in defiance. "I'll give it one try. But I'm telling you, it is impossible."

Saber held out both of her hands awaiting Rin to grab one, and Shirou for the other. "This feels so stupid," Rin complained furiously. She felt awkward holding onto a girls hand.

"I'll just use my own wings to follow you there,"

It was then the wing talons seemed to sweep at Saber's instinct; buffeting the ground with the wind trapped between the white skin holding them together. It was then, Saber let off a burst of mana, allowing her armour to vanish in favor of keeping her weight down. Shirou and Rin soon found their feet being well and truly lifted from the ground.

"Holy cripes!" Rin exclaimed. "How the heck did you learn to fast!"

"Intuition I guess," Shirou replied.

They soon found themselves completely lifted into the air, despite dangling. Shirou's face turned pale from the amazing height. "I think I'm gonna barf..." Shirou complained.

"Don't do it here!" Rin moaned.

"Please do Shirou, it'll make you lighter." Saber worded in a serious tone.

"You wouldn't do that to me, would you Saber!?" Shirou seemed worried.

From the distance they soared, they could quite easily see the tower ahead. Purple lights emitted from its base. Saber closed her eyes mid flight and observed. The tower still stood out brightly despite being engulfed in blackness from her eyelids. "There is most definitely something going on over there."

Zephyr simply nodded in agreement.

As they finally reached the grass fields, Saber attempted to slow and descend. As she reached near the ground, the wings went limp like broken bones and shattered into pieces like ceramic. Rin, Saber and Shirou all hit the ground with a thump. Shirou was unfortunately at the bottom of the pile, being crushed by the weight of the two women on top of him.

"Of course" Zephyr worded "The transformation doesn't last forever,"

As Shirou was finally released from his downed position he shouted furiously "We could have fallen an died you idiot!"

"If I had told you, would you have gone in the first place? Anyway, your Servant still needs to learn when her power is just about to release and act properly to it."

The tower ahead of them loomed. It reeked of poison as the fleshy hex substance had crawled its way up the tower. "This is the place where Saber was held one month ago," Shirou revealed. It was then they saw the figure of a man step out from within the building, causing Saber to summon her sword.

The man's slicked back brown hair waved slightly in the wind. "Ahh... he spoke. I can already feel this delightful world evolving..."

"Maverick!" Saber exclaimed.

"That's the guy?" Shirou shocked. The man did look similar to Edge, save for the face he had no glasses, and wore a brown fluffy coat. The knight raced toward the man, but was blocked as a sword dropped from the sky. She looked up to see another figure above her, a knight like herself, but entrenched in gold. The man jumped down to face Saber. Shirou and Rin couldn't believe what they saw.

The gold knight stood, grinning like a Cheshire cat. His huge pauldrons on his shoulders spoke for his ego, looking down towards the party as if they were his lessers. "Approach me with some respect," The man intimidatingly worded.

He jumped down and stood besides Maverick as if he seeked to protect him. Saber defiantly took a step forward and Shirou lay still in surprise. "Gilgamesh!"

"Have you forgotten your place, mongrels?" Gilgamesh folded his arms and stared them down "I am the first king of all, the King of Kings. Know your place!" He thrust his left arm outwards as it reached out for a portal that seemed to crack open at his command, and pulled a hilt that poked out from it. Without effort, he had a sword of a strange, gold design in his hands.

Zephyr fluttered unphased at the man's attempt to dominate them with words alone. "You're all talk," Besides the cat, it seemed all including Rin were familiar with this man. "I wouldn't underestimate him. His words are as solid as his fighting capability,"

"Why this man? Why protect and defend his values with your own life?" Saber cried, holding her Excalibur fully revealed in front of her face.

Gilgamesh laughed "He just interests me, that's all,"

"Even if it causes the world to fall into a well of despair? This grassland alone is engulfed in that corruption!" Zephyr scolded as the walls of the tower dripped in the hex of the Seed embedded in the wall in front of them.

"It's no different from the Holy Grail. It's just a wish granter, you could say," Gilgamesh chuckled. "After all, I can use it to squeeze a proposal out of you!" His finger pointed towards Saber causing Shirou to get defensive. "You leave her be!" The boy summoned an arrow between his fingers and shot an arrow of light. The blonde man just laughed and swatted the bolt with his blade, causing it to hit a random point of the grass aside him. "I always get what I want. If you don't like it, you can greet me and my base of my foot." It was then his free hand reached for something. Another hilt blade appeared in the air and he pulled out another sword, dissimilar to last.

Rin prepared to fire bolts at the bastard but Shirou stopped her. "What are you doing!? We've got to deal with him!"

Saber leapt forward first, striking Gilgamesh sword to sword. "You're more dangerous than ever," Gilgamesh smiled at her ferocity. "But... you're still not good enough!" He used his other sword to sweep the girl away, slicing part of her corset, drawing blood.

"Stand down Shirou!" Saber shouted back. "This is personal."

"Ahahahaha I like this!" Gilgamesh laughed.

Saber rushed forward again, her sword fully raised and clashed again. "I'll defeat you again Gilgamesh!"

The gold knight pushed his sword and her own upwards with his strength before letting go; connecting his foot with her chest, sending her flying once again. "You're forgetting who I am, foolish girl," Gilgamesh laughed as several red portals opened behind him. "I'm the king of all kings!" The swords within this treasury of gates suddenly flew; aiming towards the party. Rin shot one with a black sphere, but it wasn't enough.

"Trace On!" Shirou stood up in front of a vulnerable Saber and began deflecting the swords that came at them, causing them to fly in different directions as they clashed against his fake sword. "You leave her alone!"

"You speak as if she's _your _property or something," Gilgamesh sneered "Only the master claims the trophies from the hunt, not the dog. Learn your place." It was then the gold knight snapped his fingers and Shirou was forced to cease. For some reason, his body wouldn't move, but as he looked down, he could see blood dripping from his white shirt. There was a hole in his chest.

Before he could react, he dropped to the floor. It was then Rin rushed over to his body "Shirou you idiot! Zephyr! Can you heal him?" She asked pleadingly.

"I'm afraid not. My magic only works at removing poison with poison. If I did anything it would only hasten his death."

Saber, still on the floor from Gilgamesh's swift kick and wound, looked upon Shirou in shock; her irises lessened. "Shirou! I told you to stand down!"

Shirou wasn't moving. He didn't respond to her call. It was then she looked back to Gilgamesh with hate. "How could you!"

"When a dog dies at the end of the day it is still a dog." Gilgamesh proclaimed. "He would have died sooner or later to the Hex anyway." Despite this, the man continued to laugh as if nothing had occurred.

Saber shut her eyes, visualising the purple aura around him and Maverick. It was then the purple lights changed a vibrant, burning red and she opened her eyes revealing burning emerald eyes. "I'll destroy you!"

Gilgamesh was somewhat disturbed by her dialect and her eyes. But his face changed back to a smile, and once again the portals behind him lit up with a red fire as swords emerged through. "I'd like to see you try!"

The king of knights rushed forward a third time, but this time differently. Shirou can't have died, could he? These thoughts began to ebb her mind away. The gold knight fired his treasury, but she kept on running. She leapt and screamed, nearly slicing Gilgamesh's head clean off with her sword.

Rin continued to tend to Shirou's lifeless body as the two ahead clashed. "What is she doing?"

Zephyr looked upwards at Gilgamesh and Saber fighting, the latter of which was nearly overwhelming him. "This could be bad... she really likes this boy."

Gilgamesh tried to retaliate this time in attempt to push her away with his second sword in hand, but was stopped as another weapon clashed against it. As he looked to see, a single bloodied talon hung over, preventing his blade advancing further. "Just what the hell are you...?" He asked.

Saber didn't respond. She was intent on killing him and being done with it. Her gauntlets tightened once again into blades claws, with sharp, blood lined daggers erecting from her arms.

The man's face smiled again before he finally clashed her away, not before Saber's talon shredded part of Gilgamesh's red lower garments. "It's about time I fought seriously!"

From his _Gates of Babylon, _Gilgamesh pulled a very different weapon from his treasury. It was not a sword, nor a lance, but it's appearance was some what in between. Its handle was the same metallic shade as his armour, with a long black lance tip decorated in glowing red lines.

"Meet Ea!" Gilgamesh swung the weapon to his side and it sparked bolts of red lightning, burning the grass.

Saber roared again, planting her hands and feet to the ground and raising the wing talons high. The jewels on the 'eyes' of the talon heads glowed menacingly as a red sphere formed between them. Gilgamesh raised his Ea as it was engulfed in it's own red light.

It was then, Maverick finally smiled. "Yes! Continue to fight!"

Both red lights shot towards each other and clashed, causing a massive explosion. Rin and Zephyr clung to Shirou's body as they were blown backwards. It was then Shirou began to move again. "You should be dead!" The cat exclaimed.

They noticed the hole in his body had already closed, at impossible odds. Before Shirou could ask what was going on, Rin cried out to him. "Shirou you've gotta stop her from fighting!"

It was then Shirou sat up and saw his former knight. She embellished silver claws and blades, her wings were fully spread, her face beginning to corrupt with a lavender skull.

It was then the boy stood up and began to call out. "Stop this at once!" Shirou commanded.

Saber immediately ceased. "Shirou- You're alive..." As she looked back slowly, she stopped and fell over as a beam of red light raced past, severing her arm.

"Saber!" Shirou cried.

It was then Gilgamesh walked up to her and grabbed her lifeless body by the collar.. "Why would I want an animal as my wife? I feel ashamed to think the thought."

It was then he flung his arm, and tossed her off the cape into the ocean below. He seemed unimpressed. "Look, I'm tired of dealing with you. You should just go home."

Gilgamesh walked into the tower first, followed by Maverick. Shirou was angered, but had no time to react. He ran to the cliffside and looked down to the spiked tomb of rocks and the splash of ocean below. His knees gave way in hopelessness as Zephyr and Rin followed.

"Shirou! There's nothing you can do to save her! We should just go!"


End file.
